Thursday, 9 February 2017

The Cholestrol Lowdown-it isn't all bad!

Our newest Octagon ChiropractorKaren Habershongives us the lowdown on the much misunderstood subject of cholesterol.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in almost every cell in your body. So though it’s frequently viewed as a bad for our health, this isn't entirely accurate. Cholesterol is needed by every single one us, it's role is vital for:

hormones production

helping us to produce Vitamin D (vital for immunity and happiness!)

digest our food

protect our nerves

and to produce cell membranes

The more important thing to understand are that there are two types of cholesterol HDL (the good kind) and LDL (the bad kind).

The bad kind of cholesterol is increased by a lack of exercise, smoking, drinking too much alcohol, consuming too much sugar and having a poor diet, so not necessarily by eating too much fat.

But what are the risks of bad cholesterol?

LDL (the bad kind of cholesterol) is comprised of small particles which can squeeze between the cells in your arterial wall and become stuck between these gaps. This causes plaque to build up and narrowing of the vessels putting you at risk of several conditions including:

Heart disease

Stroke

Diabetes

High blood pressure

So how can you reduce LDL cholesterol?

Not all fats were created equal! And as such studies have shown that eating some saturated good fats such as the kind found in nuts, avocados and coconut oil (so basically unprocessed wholefood fat sources) can in fact help increase the number of large particles of ‘HDL’ (the good kind of cholesterol), therefore reducing LDL (the baddie.) Plus exercising and kicking those bad habits like smoking, excessive drinking and sugar-bingeing will likely help lower cholesterol too.